{"id":33541,"date":"2021-09-02T15:05:56","date_gmt":"2021-09-02T15:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=33541"},"modified":"2021-09-02T15:06:18","modified_gmt":"2021-09-02T15:06:18","slug":"food-for-thought-the-mindfulness-of-john-fraser","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/food-for-thought-the-mindfulness-of-john-fraser\/","title":{"rendered":"Food For Thought: The Mindfulness of John Fraser"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Chef John Fraser (Photo Credit: Conor Harrigan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a\u00a0type A introvert,\u201d\u00a0Chef\u00a0John Fraser\u00a0said, chuckling at the keenly observed incongruity\u2014which just might be the secret ingredient\u00a0to\u00a0his success as a Michelin-starred chef.\u00a0Indeed,\u00a0it is\u00a0honing in\u00a0on surprising juxtapositions\u00a0is what\u00a0sets\u00a0his\u00a0dishes apart. A\u00a0self-described \u201c99\u00a0percent\u00a0vegetarian,\u201d\u00a0Fraser\u00a0doesn\u2019t bristle at cooking the perfect steak or Long Island duck\u00a0breast\u00a0rubbed with lavender spices and paired with rhubarb. Fraser\u2019s latest reimagining is North Fork Table\u00a0&\u00a0Inn<\/a> (you can get that duck breast there),\u00a0which reopened this summer to much acclaim.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraser hired Thomas\u00a0Juul-Hansen\u00a0who is known for the simplicity of his grandeur\u2014more keenly observed incongruity\u2014to redesign Table\u00a0&\u00a0Inn.\u00a0\u201cThomas is an architect,\u00a0so he approaches things through a lens of restoration and awakening,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0Fraser.\u00a0\u201cI wanted a wholesale new interior with respect for what was there\u2014which is an almost impossible thing to do\u2014but I think he did it. I just felt like he would be able to get it\u2014but would be able to get it on the right budget.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Balancing the books is integral to his sense of honor as\u00a0a\u00a0businessman but there is a deeper kind of balance Fraser seeks.\u00a0He majored in anthropology\u00a0in\u00a0college,\u00a0and still has an intellectual curiosity that is systemic in its application\u00a0to\u00a0his professional life.\u00a0\u201cWhatever remnants are left of those studies deal with the way in which small things can become big things and big things can become small things inside culture or a community,\u201d Fraser explained.\u00a0\u201cIt\u00a0just felt like an obvious path as a chef was to be curious about how things run and then at a certain point,\u00a0I had no choice but to own the restaurant.\u00a0Some of it may be control freakish squeezing in there.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Conor Harrigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fraser\u00a0paused.\u00a0I can\u2019t decide if that\u00a0was\u00a0really an odd little chuckle coming from him again or more of a cud of bemusement. I settled on cud.\u00a0\u201cOne of my culinary partners tells me I cook with my brain and not my belly.\u00a0I want things to taste good, but I require a story,\u201d he\u00a0said, echoing restaurateur\u00a0Jos<\/span>\u00e9<\/span>\u00a0Andr<\/span>\u00e9<\/span>s, who claims he\u00a0is\u00a0not a chef himself, but a storyteller.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraser\u2019s own story started with Thomas Keller mentoring him at The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Keller has said, \u201cWhen you acknowledge\u2014as you must\u2014there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it,\u00a0then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy. That is what cooking is about.\u201d\u00a0Does Fraser agree with his mentor?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot to unpack in the word \u2018happy.\u2019\u00a0It\u2019s an easy one to sort of flop around,\u201d he\u00a0said. \u201cIn every restaurant there is a different sort of society that is happening.\u00a0At The Loyal in Manhattan,\u201d\u00a0he\u00a0said, citing another of his properties, \u201cpeople are coming\u00a0there\u00a0and they are drinking and there is revery.\u00a0At the North Fork Table,\u00a0maybe it\u2019s a bit more of a foodie rhythm.\u00a0I think my job is first to define why it is that you\u2019re there and then try to peek inside what your version of happiness is and provide it for you.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And what would\u00a0someone\u00a0see if\u00a0they\u00a0peeked inside his own version?\u00a0\u201cThis is not going to be a very sexy answer.\u00a0I\u2019m more relieved than happy.\u00a0I don\u2019t celebrate victories.\u00a0I\u2019m more on the other side of it where I say, \u2018Thank\u00a0goodness,\u2019\u201d he claimed,\u00a0unclenching\u00a0his jaw around that cud of bemusement\u00a0to release a long, lovely sigh.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit: Conor Harrigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u00a0was\u00a0one of exhaustion, however, as much\u00a0as it was one\u00a0<\/span>of relief.\u00a0<\/span>It\u00a0was only a few days before the Fourth of July\u00a0when\u00a0we\u00a0spoke\u00a0and he told\u00a0me he\u00a0had\u00a0just flown in after visiting his\u00a0parents for the first time since the pandemic.\u00a0They still live out in Los Angeles,\u00a0where he\u00a0grew up. \u201c\u2018What\u00a0is\u00a0patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child,\u2019\u201d I teased\u00a0him, quoting the Chinese novelist and philosopher Lin\u00a0Yutang.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Fraser\u2019s chaw of a chuckle\u00a0was\u00a0back.\u00a0\u201cThe dining table was the place where my family did come together almost every day,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThat\u00a0is\u00a0probably where it started.\u00a0I was a\u00a0pretty curious\u00a0kid about science and chemistry and math.\u00a0I was a lot less creative and a lot more the-inner-workings-of.\u00a0How does macaroni and cheese go from milk to\u00a0thick.\u00a0That sort of thing.\u00a0So\u00a0food was a part of the way we came together as a\u00a0family\u00a0but it was also part of my curiosity.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Photo Credit : Conor Harrigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to creating his own family,\u00a0Fraser himself is still single.\u00a0His businesses and his staff seem to\u00a0fulfill\u00a0the need\u00a0in\u00a0him for companionship and even devotion.\u00a0He\u2019s been coming to the farthest reaches of Long Island since college,\u00a0when he worked as a bartender and cook at\u00a0Shagwong\u00a0Tavern in Montauk.\u00a0So why did he choose the North Fork\u2014and not the South Fork\u2014to put down stakes finally?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u00a0was no bemusement now.\u00a0There\u00a0was no chuckle.\u00a0He no longer seems exhausted but\u00a0becalmed.\u00a0\u201cMaybe the North Fork chose me,\u201d\u00a0he said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29575,"featured_media":33542,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,16],"yoast_head":"\nFood For Thought: The Mindfulness of John Fraser<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cI\u2019m a\u00a0type A introvert,\u201d\u00a0Chef\u00a0John Fraser\u00a0said, chuckling at the keenly observed incongruity\u2014which just might be the secret ingredient\u00a0to\u00a0his success as a Michelin-starred chef.\u00a0Indeed,\u00a0it is\u00a0honing in\u00a0on surprising juxtapositions\u00a0is what\u00a0sets\u00a0his\u00a0dishes apart. 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